Many employers in the United States routinely need temporary workers that are highly skilled. Therefore, there are various temporary work visas such as H1B and L1 (L1A and L1B)
that allow the employers to hire foreign foreign workers. While there are many some similarities between H1B and L1 visa categories,
there are many differences between them.

Similarities

Both are temporary work visas.

Both allow dual intent. That is, the temporary worker does not have to show the ties to the home country and filing for green card
will not jeopardize the visa status and that itself will not cause any problems in getting future status extensions or visa stampings.

Petitions for both of them allow premium processing, though the premium processing for H1B visa is stopped temporarily sometimes.

Differences

Feature

L1 Visa

H1B Visa

Employer

L1 visa petition can be filed only by the parent, subsidiary, affiliate or branch of the foreign company
where the alien has worked for at least 1 year in preceding 3 years in the capacity of manager, executive or special
knowledge work. All employers don't have such choice as not all companies have foreign presence or are multinational.

Any U.S. based employer can hire the foreign worker, provided all other conditions are met.

Quota/Cap

None

For initial H1B petition, 65,000 with 6,800 reserved for Chile and Singapore for certain programs.

Additional 20,000 for new graduates with master's degree from the U.S.

If the cap for a given for a given financial year has been reached, the petition can only be filed on the next April 1 or
after that until the cap is filled again and the employment can start only from the next October 1 or after that.

Prevailing Wage

No requirements. That is because the L1 visa holder is really on behalf of a foreign qualifying entity.

However, significantly lower wages may cause problems.

Must be paid at least the prevailing wages.

Payroll

Can be on the payroll of U.S. company or foreign company and be paid only the allowance in the U.S.